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Adult Astronomy Course: Understanding Quantum

From July 18th, 2017 to August 15th, 2017

Short 5-week course held at Sydney Observatory with Dr. Paul Payne. These courses are suitable for adults and senior students (years 11 and 12).

Quantum is the theory we had to have. During the 19th Century many advances were made in Physics but by the end of the century it was backing itself into a corner. It would take a radical change in thinking to explain many of the paradoxes that had arisen and Quantum was the uneasy solution. Its ability to explain the previously unexplainable was startling and menacing. Nature was to expose many aspects of itself in the early 20th Century that would sit uneasily with intuitive thinking. Though many thought Quantum a temporary explanation for what was observed, it has withstood a century of challengers.

Understanding Quantum will introduce you to why we had to have this new theory to explain the very small and its development through the twentieth century. During this course you will be taken from its infancy to some of its more radical predictions, with an emphasis on its application in astronomy. All the presentations are in interactive 3D to aid communicating concepts that are often very difficult to visualise and understand. No mathematics shall be used during the explanations. We invite you to make the leap into Quantum.